NCC Blames Poor Network in Abuja, Lagos, Ibadan, Others on Capacity Strain, Urges 5G Expansion

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has attributed the poor quality of telecom services in Lagos, Abuja, and other major cities to limited network capacity struggling to handle heavy data usage in densely populated areas.

In a new report conducted with broadband analytics firm Ookla, the NCC said while overall network capacity nationwide is satisfactory, “capacity issues have been observed in urban areas across all major operators.”

It noted that congestion in high-density zones causes dropped calls, buffering, failed mobile payments, and slow downloads, while rural areas remain largely unaffected.

To fix this, the Commission urged telecom operators to make “targeted infrastructure investments” and adopt a two-pronged strategy—aggressively deploying 5G technology and optimizing existing 4G (LTE) networks.

“Localized congestion leads directly to peak-hour performance degradation,” the NCC stated, stressing the need for urgent urban upgrades to ensure consistent service.

Subscribers have recently voiced frustration over p++r data speeds and unstable signals, with some reporting that their 5G routers barely deliver 1Mbps except at night.

Operators, however, blame frequent fibre cuts and vandalism for many of the outages, estimating an average of 1,100 fibre cuts weekly nationwide.

President Bola Tinubu last year signed a gazette designating telecom infrastructure as critical national information infrastructure, criminalizing its destruction.

The move, backed by Communications Minister Dr. Bosun Tijani, is intended to protect ICT investments. A similar declaration was made in 2020 under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

To further safeguard the network, the Federal Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Communications formed a Joint Standing Committee earlier this year to coordinate efforts in protecting fibre optic cables nationwide.

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